“Something religious is going on even in scientific work, not in the scientific information itself but in the commitment to the idea that the universe is intelligible and truth is worth seeking. Those are religious convictions. You can’t prove scientifically that truth is worth seeking, but it’s the conviction that it is worth seeking that underlies all good science. Religion lifts this up and makes it more explicit. It symbolically names that depth, that truth, that meaning, and refers to it in Western theology as God or Allah, or in Eastern thought as Brahman or Tao.”
— John F. Haught in an interview with WIE magazine
He goes on to talk about the universe, saying “Something is working itself out in this universe. What is that?”
Then he kind of spoils it a little with “We can’t have a naked experience of the divine; it’s always mediated or expressed through creation, through nature, culture, history, and so forth.” I disagree with that completely. Indeed, he even mentions the names people have given to the experience of pure Being in the quote above. Divine can be experienced in both the mediated personal form and the impersonal direct.
WIE magazine has some excellent articles. But their title, ‘What is Enlightenment?‘ gives them away somewhat. They tend to be rather a little too much in the head. Thats back at step 3 in the 10 steps to Enlightenment (laughs)
The rest of the very good interview is here.
Davidya
Last Updated on December 11, 2013 by Davidya